Hear Lou Reed and Metallica’s First Song, an Abstract Ode to Magnets

If you are still a little suspicious that the LouTallica collaboration is just a Franco-like performance-art stunt, then the first lines of "The View," the first song off the joint album Lulu, will do little to reassure you. "I am a chorus of the voices / that gather up the magnets / set before me," Reed intones over a generic Metallica-y riff. The Insane Clown Posse are not the only people to ever sing about magnets, but it's hard not to think about them — or about unusual music stunts in general — once this thing gets rolling. Reed spends the full five minutes rambling on about the aforementioned magnets, the truth, and "the coldness of most beauties," as Metallica strums dutifully in the background. There's also something about ten stories on a tablet that is Lou Reed? It's unarguably weird, and certainly not the rager Metallica fans might hope for. But Lou Reed promised us a new planetary system with this album, and one assumes that the Big Bang II can't all fit in one track. Lulu is due November 1; prepare for a higher understanding then.

We understand the reasons for blocking, but Vulture depends on ads to pay our writers and editors. We're working hard to improve the ad experience on our site, but in the mean time, we'd really appreciate it if you added us to the approved list in your ad blocker. Thanks for the support!